Color-sorting machine



P. F. DUSHAIAINDV A. FEYK.

COLOR SORTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 1. I920.

Patented Dec. 27, 1921.

3 SHEETS -SHEET l- WI W271? ATTORNEYS 7PM 9. W-

P. F. DUSHA AND A. FEYK.

COLOR SORLTING MACHINE APPLICATION FILEDOCT. I. 1920.

1,401, 95, Patented Dec. '27, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2;

1: my SE8 INVENTORS 7 9 PAUL 5.005114 A/vw/v Fin A I I BY Wri ht [ATTORNEYS ,P. F. DUSHAAND A. FEYK..

COLOR SORTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 1. 1920.

Patented Dec. 27, 1921.

WITNESSES ATTORNEYS RM a.

earner caries.

IPAULF. DUSHA, OF NEW YOR-KQIQ'. Y., AND ANTONEEYK, 0F BOHEMIA, YORK,

ASSIGNOR$ TO I-IOL'UIB-DUSI-IA 60., 013 NEVT YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW! YORK.

COLQE-SORTING 'MACHINE.

eon-s95.

Application filed October 1, 1820. Serial No. 414,145.

and residents, respectively, of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, in the county and State of NetvYork, and Bo-v hemia, in the county of Suffolk and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Color-Sorting Machine of which the following is a full, clear, and exact descrip tion.

This invention relates to a machine for sorting articles, and has particular reference to a machine for sorting buttons and classifying them in accordance with some particular characteristic thereof.

An object of the invention is to provide a machine in which buttons are fed and are presented successively to operators with the sides of the buttons reversed so that operators can examine both sides of the buttons to sort them if the color or other characteristics thereof are not what is desired.

Another object resides in the provision of means whereby the reversalor turning over of the buttons in the machine is effected en tirely without any manual aid whatsoever.

A further object resides in the provision of means whereby only buttons within a certain required range of dimension are permitted to pass to the conveyers.

A still further object resides in the provision of the particular arrangement and construction of parts which is hereinafter set forth and shown in the accompanying drawings. 1

The invention is illustrated in the drawin -s, of which w 1* igure 1 is a side view of the machine;

Fig. 2 is a partial section taken on the line 2-2-of Fig. 3;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3'3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4c is a partial end. view of the machine showing the feeding hoppers; and v Fig. 5 is a cross section taken through the main feeding hopper and showingthe adjust-ability of the rolls therein.

Hitherto in the process of sorting articles, such as buttons, it has been necessary to manually turn each button over to examine both sidesthereof to see if the characteristics of both sides were up to standard requirements. This is particularly true of the color of the opposite sides of the button. It is definite dimension desired.

generally desirous that buttons of a certain color be segregated fromthose of a different color. This manual process has involved a great expenditure of time and labor in turning over each button.

A machine constructed in accordance with our invention aims to overcome this difliculty and provides means whereby the but- Specification of Letters Patent. Patentgd Bag, 27, 1921, i

tons are fed from the hopper in a continuous and regulated stream on to a plurality of conveyers; Adjustable means are provided in the path of the feeding means to keep back buttons that are thicker than a certain The buttons in traveling through the machine are fed under one conveyer and pass before an operator who examines them and removes any buttons the characteristics of the side of which presented to her arenot up to standard, particularly the color characteristic. This conveyer then moves the buttons to another conveyer and in the act of transferring them to this conveyer turns them over, so that the other side of the button is then presented to another operator. who can examine this particular side for similar characteristics. ld hereupon the buttons which have passed Means are provided whereby thefeed of the buttons can be regulated to any desired speed so that the maximum efficiency on the part of the operator can be maintained.

The machine which is illustrated as embodying in one form the features of our in-', vention comprises a pair of conveyer belts, 1 and 2. The belt 1 is mounted on rollers 3 and 4 which are suitably journaled in frame plates 5' and 6.. The ends of the roller 3 are borne in plates such as 7 which are adapted to slide in slots 8 in the frame 5, whereby the position of the roller 3 may be adjusted to vary the tension of the belt 1. The belt 1 is so positioned in the frame plates 5'and 6 that the upper surface with plates 12 and 1,3 which extend slightly over the edges of the belt and act as guards therefor. The belt 1 is continuous and travels between. and around the rollers 3 and 4: in themanner above indicated, Articles such as buttons arefed to this belt 1 from a hopper 1 1 (see Fig. This hopper is suitably disposed within a hopper support or frame within which are a pan of rolls 16 and 17. These rolls are pivoted at their ends in the plates of the frame or support. 15, and one of the rolls, such as 17, is provided with adjustable bearings 18 which can be moved backward and forward in a slot 19 in the supporting frame 15 by means of screuuthreaded hand nut 20. Thisprovides means whereby the space between rollers 16 and 17 can be varied. The direction of the rollers is so adjusted that the movement or" the adjacent faces of the rollers is forward and in a direction counter to'the'direction of movement of the buttons which drop down into the hopper from a feeding means above. Buttons, therefore, whichare thicker than the distance of the space between the rollers do not pass through the same. The hopper supporting frame 15. is provided with inwardly projecting flanges 21 and 22 adjacent the upper surfaces of the rollers 16 and 17 so that buttons which are too thick cannot pass around the rollers to drop on the belt 1 from the opposite side thereof and are thereby prevented from' getting to the belt 1.

The buttons are fed into the hopper 14 from a feed funnel or pipe 23, as shown in Fig. 1. .This is provided at its rearward end'witha gear 24; and issuitablyjournaled in a bearing 25 which can be support. ed in any suitable manner. This gear 24. meshes with a pinion 26 on the shaft 27 receiving power through belt 28, and pulley 29 from pulley 30 which cooperates with one of the rollers lfiandpl'r' above mentioned. The front end of the funnel 23 is provided with a plate 31 thereon having suitable apertures therein, and over this plate an ad j ustable plate 32 is disposed having arms such as 33 thereon. This adjustable plate can be moved to adjust the size of the apertures in plate 31 through which the buttons or other articles may pass, whereby the feed of the buttons into the hopper 14 is care fully regulated. The rear end of the funnel 23 is open and into this end projects a feed pipe 34 leading froma main hopper S5."

The pinion 26 is covered with a suitable guard plate 36. Thebearing 25 is supported in any suitable manner and is provided on one side with a" lug or shaft 37 to which is attached an arm 38. This arm on its outer end. is provided with an aperture 38 through which a rod '39 is adapted" to pass: This rod 39 is threaded and provided with a Y menses article through the funnel.

As the articles or buttons pass into the hopper 14 and between the rollers 16 and 17 they fall on the conveyer belt 1 and are moved to the left, as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1. The operator examines the sides of the buttons presented to her as they pass before her and removes from the belt the buttons whichare not of the proper color or have not the required characteristics. The conveyer belt 2 is a continuous belt and is adapted to traveljaround rollers 42, 13 and 4 1, all of whichare suitably journaled in bearings of the frameplates 5 and 6. The roller 43 is adjustable within the frame plates by reason of the fact that the ends of its sliaft are journaled in slidable plates, such as 45, movablein a slot 46 in the frame plate by reason of the movement of hand thumb nuts 4-7. By reason of this adjustment the tension on the belt 2 can be regulated. The position of roller 44 over'which the conveyer belt 2 passes is such that in passing from roller 14 to roller 42 the conveyer l elt 2 passes adjacent roller 4 and con-f veyer belt 1 and moves closely to the conveyer belt 1 during considerable distance of. i i 7 its travel and then appears at the right hand side of the machine, as seen in Fig. 1, sub stantially flush with the upper edges of the side frames 5. and 6 in a. manner identical with the way in which the conveyer belt 1 1 moves flush with the above-mentioned edges.

The conveyer belt 2 issupported and guided in a manner identical with the support and guidance of the conveyer belt 1 above meutioned.

It will be seen, therefore, that as the buttons leave the conveyer belt 1 they pass,

between conveyer belts 1 and2 where these belts join near rollers land 441. This relation can be readily seen in Fig. 2, where the buttons are represented by the letters A .1 where the belt passes over roller 3', this buttonwlll be released by the conveyer belt 1 and will travel forward on top of conveyer belt 2 at .the right side of the machine as viewed in'Fig. lwherean' operator, in the I position marked B, is situated toexamine the buttons as thus presented. The other operator, previously mentioned, is situated at theposition marked '13. In position B theopposite side of the button is being presented to that shown in position B, and

the same sort of classification takes place. Thus, buttons which are satisfactory are permitted to move on with the conveyer belt 2 and pass down a chute 18 into any suitable receptacle. The side frame plates 5 and 6 are supported by any suitable pedestals or legs, such as are designated by the numeral 49. A power belt 50 transmits power to a plurality of gearing, shown particularly in Figs. 2 and 3, through a pulley 51 mounted on a shaft 52. A pinion 53 on this shaft meshes with a gear 54. This gear meshes in turn with a pinion 55 which is mounted on a shaft 56. The roller 1 1 previously mentioned is mounted on this shaft 56. A gear 57 is also mounted on shaft 56 and is adapted to mesh with a gear 58 disposed on a shaft 59 on which the roller 4: is mounted. Between the pulley 51 and the pinion 53 a small pulley 60 is located and over this pulley a belt 61 extends. This belt 61 is only another portion of the belt 28 previously mentioned which extends from the pulley 29 on the shaft 27 and contacts with the pulley 30 previously mentioned in connection with the rollers 16 and 17. A tensioning device, represented by the Fig. 62, of any suitable type may be provided to keep this belt 61 at a desired degree of tension.

In accordance with the operation of the machine above mentioned throughout the description, it will be apparent that all the operators have to do with this machine is to watch the buttons passing in front of them and remove any which are abnormal in their characteristics. It is not necessary for a button to be turned over by hand, since that is done by meansof the belting system above described. When the rollers and apparatus are adjusted in one position it is not required to change them for any particular run. By providing the adjustment between rollers 16 and 17 we can effect the elimination of buttons which are too thick from passing beyond a certain point in the system.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

1. A machine for sorting buttons, comprising a pair of conveyer belts and means for feeding buttons to one of said belts, said belt moving in one direction, the other belt disposed to contact with the first-mentioned belt alongthat portion of'its length which moves in the reverse direction, whereby buttons may be gripped therebetween, said second belt, toward the end of its travel, separating from said first-mentioned belt to expose the buttons reversed to view.

2. A button sorting machine comprising a continuous belt adapted to receive buttons and move them in one direction, and a second belt disposed along the portion of the first-mentioned belt which moves in the opposite direction, said belts along their contacting faces adapted to grip the buttons and move them in this opposite direction, said second belt later in its travel separating from the first-mentioned belt to expose the buttons to view in the reverse position.

PAUL F. DUSHA. ANTON FEYK. 

